male-sterile

[ meyl-ster-ilor, especially British, -ahyl ]

adjective

, Botany.

1. producing no pollen or infertile pollen.

Word History and Origins

Origin of male-sterile¹

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

Mr. Yuan forged ahead with his research, concluding in the mid-1960s that male-sterile rice plants were key to producing a vigorous, high-yield hybrid strain.

From Washington Post

So far I have made only temporary preparations of the crushed anthers in stain but careful study of these mounts discloses no sign of pollen grains or mother cells, so we may tentatively conclude that no pollen is produced by the tree; in other words it is male-sterile.

From Project Gutenberg

The lata mutants having an odd chromosome are almost completely male-sterile, and their seed production is also much reduced: but this partial sterility cannot be attributed entirely to the odd chromosome because semilata, which has also 15 chromosomes, does not show the same degree of sterility.

From Project Gutenberg